Parachute toy



Jan. 26, 1960 .I. COLEMAN 2,922,251

' PARACHUTE TOY Filed June 24, 1958 INVENTOR (IL eoleman 2,922,251 PARACHUTE TOY Jesse L. Coleman, Lynch'hnrg, Va. Application June 24, 1958, Serial No. 744,149 2 Claims. (Cl. 4686) This invention relates to a parachute toy of the type which is adapted to be thrown or projected into the air after which the parachute opens and the toy descends slowly back to the ground.

It is an object of this invention to provide a toy in the shape of a rubber ball, one-half of which is collapsible so that the parachute can be folded or otherwise crumpled into the noncollapsed half of the ball.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of securing the parachute to the ball extending therethrough and having a tie member or string connected thereto at the opposite side of the ball.

A still further object of the invention resides in so wrapping and deforming the ball into a compact configuration together with its parachute that the entire object is made as small as possible so that it can be projected into the air as far as it is possible to throw the packed and folded toy.

Another object of the invention resides in providing one-half of the rubber ball which is the collapsible half, with spaced perforations or holes so that that particular hemisphere can be easily collapsed to receive the folded parachute.

Further objects will be apparent from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the ball together with a portion of the strings connected to the parachute;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the parachute packed and folded into and against the collapsible half of the ball and both into the other half;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the ball wrapped with its retaining string and in its packed position;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the toy in its descending position with the parachute open;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the ball taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the ball itself before it is perforated and provided with the parachute.

In preparing the toy, the ball 7, as shown in Fig. 6, has two hemispheres, one of which is the lower hemisphere 8 and the other is the upper or top hemisphere 9. In preparing the ball so that the upper hemisphere 9 shall be easily collapsed, the latter is provided with a plurality of holes 10, which are drilled or otherwise provided in the ball 7 and which latter is preferably made of rubber or any other suitable plastic orpliable material. Any number of holes 10 may be provided such as two or three or more. Also, a pair of holes 11 are provided at diametrically opposite points, as shown in Fig. 5, and through such holes the string or cord 12 passes which has a knot or other stop means .13 at the lower end and is provided with a trailing portion 14. The upper end 12 of the string is tied or connected to the connecting strings which are tied at suitable spaced intervals 17 to the peripheral edge of the parachute 16. The string 14 is tied to the strings 15 at 19.

The parachute 16 is made of any suitable light fabric such as silk, nylon, or the like, and can even be made of paper, cotton, and other fabrics, if desired.

The toy may be used by carrying out the following preferable procedure. The parachute 16, together with the connecting strings 15, are folded together and bunched so that they fit into and on the perforated hemisphere 9, the latter being forced inwardly due to the resilience of the holes 10 in the upper half 9 of the ball.

2,922,251 Patented Jan. 26, 1960 When in the position of Fig. 2, the tie string 14 is wrapped a number of times around the ball, as shown in Fig. 3, and in that position the ball becomes quite distorted both as to the upper and lower hemispheres with the string 14 untied and merely held by friction around the ball. In the position of Fig. 3, the toy is ready to be thrown or projected into the air either straight up or at an angle and on its way up the resilience of the portion 9 tends to force the string 14 to unwrap and gradually the parachute is forced away from the ball by the holes 10, allowing the ball to resume its shape quickly. The parachute 16 is caught by the air at the top of its upward flight where it becomes inflated and descends slowly back to the ground in the position shown in Fig. 4. At the top of the upward flight and during descent, the ball assumes its entire spherical shape. The toy is then ready to be projected again into the air.

The strings 12, 14 and 15 may be made of any suitable material such as cotton, synthetic fiber, silk or any other material. The plastic ball has two half sections of which one section is more easily distortable than the other half and instead of perforating the more distortable half, it is possible to make that half section of a wall thickness smaller than the wall thickness of the other half. The ball may also be colored with the lower half 8 of one color and the upper half 9 of another color and an intermediate band 18 of another color.

In connection with the modification of the structure of the ball, that is, the one in which the upper hemisphere 9 is made thinner than the lower half 8, it will be sufficient to provide two or three small holes therein and not necessarily as many holes as shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. Only suflicient holes are necessarily in order to provide for the entry and exit of air into and out of the ball during its partial collapsing and its re-shaping movements.

. It is understood that the invention is not limited to the precise showing as illustrated but further modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A parachute toy comprising an integral ball having two hemispheres of which one hemisphere is collapsible, the other being noncollapsible, a string passing diametrically through the ball on an axis through both hemispheres, a plurality of connecting strings connected to one end of the first-mentioned string, a parachute secured to the connecting strings, and a tie string connected to the other end of the first-mentioned string, said parachute and connecting strings being capable of being bunched on and into the collapsible hemisphere with the latter and the parachute projecting into the noncollapsible hemisphere together with the collapsible hemisphere and the tie string wrapped around the toy to thus project the packed toy into the air, and the collapsible hemisphere being provided with a plurality of perforations therein.

2. A parachute toy according to claim 1, in which the wall thickness of the collapsible hemisphere is thinner than the wall thickness of the noncollapsible hemisphere.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 728,251 Lawrence May 19, 1903 1,767,968 Detzel June 24, 1930 1,775,299 Warner Sept. 9, 1930 1,938,931 Newman Dec. 12, 1933 2,213,205 Crary Sept. 3, 1940 2,796,697 Beyrodt June 25, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 294,544 Great Britain Oct. 25, 1928 

